CONSUMERS AND businesses are being challenged to reduce their food waste during Zero Waste Week, from the 2nd-8th September.
Held in partnership with The Rubbish Diet and supported by Love Food, Hate Waste the annual campaign calls on the general public and businesses – especially those in the hospitality sector – to think twice about throwing food away, to help save money and the environment.
Celebrating its sixth anniversary, National Zero Waste Week is focusing on food waste following research by WRAP that reveals households throw away 7.2 million tonnes of food and drink every year, costing the average family in the UK £50 per month.
A report out this week from BusinessWaste.co.uk also shows that the hospitality industry is improperly disposing of up to 50% of its food waste – making the sector the ‘worst’ commercial waste offenders.
Rachelle Strauss, founder of National Zero Waste Week said: “I was shocked by the volume of food we were sending to landfill and wanted to do something to address it. We are making this year’s Zero Waste Week accessible to everyone by asking people to make very simple pledges, which can make a huge amount of difference. We look forward to building on the success of previous year’s National Zero Waste Week.”
Emma Marsh, Head of the Love Food Hate Waste campaign, said: “Making the most of the food we buy is increasingly important to us all especially with ever tighter household budgets, but we’re still unnecessarily wasting 20% of the food we buy. Zero Waste Week is a great way to highlight how we can all take action in our homes. There are many simple ways we can make the most of the food we buy and Love Food Hate Waste has hundreds of tips, facts, recipe ideas and inspiration to help us all waste less and save more.”
